I can speak only about law schools, where this catering to the oldsters is on the wane but still exists. Especially in richer institutions.

And among supervisors of support staff it is a truth universally acknowledged that office staffers should rank elderly white fellows ahead of all other faculty members, and pay attention to younger or more female people only as time permits. “You’re the self-sufficient generation,” they say when denying requests for help. They think it’s cute–and a drop-everything action item for them–whenever an old guy can’t find the big green button on the copying machine.

Your comment about “what exists of office support” reminds me of my days at Penn 20 years ago. Many of the office staff were understood to be typists/word processors for a few very senior male proffies, who never learned to use computers or to type. It was an accomodation for entitled, clueless dudes. I wonder if that happens any more, or if most people 65 and under learned to use computers and do their own typing along the way?

As Tom noted, the rank confers privileges which varies from institution to institution. Here it includes on-campus office space and access to what exists of office support and supplies.

Ayers seems to have decided never to apologize for what he did in the late 60s/early 70s. I can see his point, but some perspective from the present would surely be worthwhile…

But, it seems like my former colleagues have their e-mail addresses and library cards. Many of them are quite active–they stop by when they’re carrying a load of books to or from the library. It seems like the uni gets more than the value of their library cards and e-mail accounts, having such active citizens around.

Thanks to Tim Lacy for the insider perspective. And koshem Bos: I would agree with you, except that Illinois clearly found it expedient to look the other way while they hired, promoted, and permitted him to rise through the ranks. (I’ll take Tim’s word that Ayers was rehabilitated through his work–I don’t know anything about his scholarship.) If Illinois was really bothered by Ayers’s criminal past, they wouldn’t have hired or tenured him in the first place.

Those who, directly or indirectly, support killing should not be members of any decent community. You have to be at a real low to support murder. Ayers was and never apologized. Why accord him the honor?

What’s funny about this decision is that it harms UIC financially. Why? Because one of the “perks” of being emeritus is getting paid less to teach the same kinds of courses. And with Ayers bad-boy persona, he was an attractive teacher for students (i.e. the novelty factor). So now UIC will have to find someone less distinguished, scholarship-wise, to teach Ayers’s courses—someone who won’t keep the same number of butts in the seats.

As a former UIC employee, I can say with some authority that it’s perfectly in line with UIC’s administrative ineptitude to make a symbolic statement while also shooting themselves in the foot.

Anyway, Historiann, I agree with your very last lines: this is something Ayers can relish, as well as use to sell his next book. He gets to retain a bad-boy image despite the fact that he’s pretty much been reformed by his own work. I’m serious about this. He works on nuts-and-bolts education issues. He’s a fine professional in his specialty. – TL

How unusual is it for people to be denied emeritus/a status, anyway? I’m thinking that it’s probably fairly unusual and statistically unlikely, even if the person wasn’t a great colleague, as Matt L suggests. That would make the absence of the status sting a lot more, although Ayers is doubtless rich enough to afford his own photocopying.